Simple Homemade Fresh Garden Tomato Sauce

Tomatoes are a staple in our garden. We grow a lot of them! This homemade fresh garden tomato sauce is perfect to use them up fresh during tomato season, without just having to find ways to can them.

During this time of year I put up a lot of tomatoes, in a lot of different ways. Check out my top 3 ways top preserve tomatoes for long term food storage, if you are like me and have lbs of tomatoes coming in. However, sometimes I am not looking to preserve tomatoes, I just want to use them fresh right from the garden.

I didn’t want a complicated recipe, but one that I could easily send a child out to the garden to pick a basket full of red juicy tomatoes, then bring them in and have an easy sauce in minutes. 

The best thing about this recipe is you can use any type of tomatoes! I have used Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes, plum tomatoes and even meat style tomatoes. They all work perfectly. 

This recipe works well with fresh or frozen tomatoes. So if you are like me and have freezer bags full of tomatoes in your freezer, this is the perfect way to use them up! 

Not only is this recipe great to use your fresh summer tomatoes but you can also use your fresh herbs in it too. If I have fresh herbs I will use them, otherwise I will use dried herbs. There is just nothing better then using up fresh produce from the garden to make a delicious meal. Now that’s farm to table!

What to use this homemade garden fresh tomato sauce in.

We love to use this homemade fresh garden tomato sauce on a variety of dishes. It can be used as a homemade spaghetti sauce, homemade marinara sauce, as your pizza sauce, or even just as a dipping sauce for bread sticks. 

There are so many ways to use it! 

If you get tired of the same ol’ recipe change it up with different spices and herbs and you will get different flavors every time. 

Equipment you will need.

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For this sauce you don’t need a food mill because I use the whole tomato, skins and all! I find that you don’t even notice the skins in the sauce once it is all blended up, so its not even necessary to remove the skins before freezing or after you pick them fresh. That makes this process even quicker!

You will need either a high powered blender, I like to use my Vitamix for this, or an immersion blender. A food processor would probably work as well, although I have never done it in a food processor. Since you aren’t peeling your tomatoes, you just want something to blend it up nice and smooth. 

I prefer to use the Vitamix blender because with a lid on it you don’t have to worry about splattering. If you don’t have a blender you like, you can simply cook your tomatoes in a pot and use an immersion blender to blend it all up. I would just make sure to use a large deep pot because the immersion blender tends to splatter a lot. 

The steps I will show you below are based on using a blender, since that is what I use most of the time. Simply place tomatoes and onions in a pot to cook instead of on a sheet pan in the oven, if you are using an immersion blender. I also would mince my garlic before adding them to the pot as well. This will help your immersion blender out a bit. 

Before I share the ingredients, I will have to confess. I don’t typically measure any of this. That’s what makes this sauce such an easy recipe! I just add everything to taste and go with it. But for the nature of this post, I tried to put measurements to everything I put it. You can add/remove whatever you feel to make this the perfect sauce for your family!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of tomatoes (either fresh or frozen)
• 1/4 of an onion, sliced (you can use 1/2 tsp of onion powder instead)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4-6 fresh basil leaves (or 1 tsp dried basil)
• handful of fresh oregano leaves (or 1 tsp dried oregano)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
• red pepper flakes to taste (optional)

How to make homemade fresh garden tomato sauce:

1. Wash you tomatoes well and cut them in half or quarters depending on the size. Peel your garlic cloves and slice your onions. Place them all on a cookie sheet in a single layer. If using onion powder wait to add that until the blender. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. This will give you the flavor of saute onions and garlic without having to actually get a pan out and do it. You want them to be incredibly soft and slight golden brown. Watch closely so they don’t burn. The amount of time will differ. 
2. Pour all of that into a high powered blender, juices and all! Add remaining ingredients to the blender. 
3. Blend on high for 1-2 minutes until you have a completely smooth sauce. 
4. If your sauce seems too runny you can add 1 TBSP of tomato paste and blend again for 1 minute to thicken. I never have to do that. The sauce is always plenty thick. 
5. Use this sauce in any dish that you would normally use tomato sauce in. 

If you have left over tomato sauce, store in an airtight container in the fridge. I like to put it in a mason jar with a lid and ring. It will keep for about a week or so. 

Using fresh garden tomatoes brings the most flavorful sauce you have ever tried. The good thing about this homemade tomato sauce recipe is you can use it in any dish and you can customize the flavors to your families liking. For instance, I don’t typically put sugar in when making this sauce, because my family doesn’t like their tomato sauce sweet. However, your family may like it sweeter so you can add it.

The possibilities are endless!

As tomato season comes underway and you are getting pounds of tomatoes coming in, try this homemade garden fresh tomato sauce. Your family will love it and you will love how simple it is using ingredients right from your garden!